20250222 Address in the Śravaṇa Utsava

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-gurun dina tāriṇam
paramānanda-mādhavam śrī caitanya īśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sat

TOPIC: SEVEN PURPOSES OF ISKCON, NO. 5: To erect for the members and for the Society at large a holy place.

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda, he went around the world and established different temples. He wanted each temple to be a holy place. Where people could go and get purified and advance in spiritual life. Māyāpur, Vṛndāvana, they are anyway dhāmas. This, Māyāpur is known as audārya-dhāma. Kṛṣṇa told Rādhārāṇī that the blessings one gets from Vṛndāvana, we will get here, in Māyāpur! But here there is more mercy! Vṛndāvana is known as mādhurya-dhāma. It is very sweet. There is a saying that Vṛndāvana is more sweet, and Mathurā is very sweet, and Dvārakā is sweet. So, Kṛṣṇa came here to find Rādhārāṇī playing the flute. So, He told Her that, “This place would give the blessings of Vṛndāvana.” He thanked Her for making such a nice dhāma! So we have a natural place to make as a holy place. But every temple is also a holy place. One gets multiple benefits for devotional service. So Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to benefit all the people of the world!

When Śrīla Prabhupāda installed Deities in different temples, that was creating a holy place! And people by going there, they get spiritual blessings. Lord Caitanya had predicted that in every town and village, His holy name will be chanted. So Śrīla Prabhupāda was very eager to realize this prediction of Lord Caitanya! Five days before his departure he established the Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. We have already got a number of holy places in India and in Bangladesh. From Bangladesh, many Hindus fled the country. So we have the birthplace of Advaita Gosāñī, the birthplace of Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. We are trying to get the birthplace of Gadādhara Prabhu. We have the birthplace of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi. And in West Bengal, we have done some repair work, saṁskāra, of many holy places, as was desired by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Recently, a few days ago, His Holiness Śivarāma Mahārāja, he went to some of the holy places of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes that we have got. He said they were very sweet places! That you could feel Lord Caitanya’s presence there! And so we want that all the temples around the world, when people go there they will feel Rādhā Kṛṣṇa, Nitāi Gaura, Jagannātha, etc. there!

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he was born in Bir Nagar. So, Kṛṣṇa-kathā Deśa in the Middle East, has said they would like to contribute the land. Like this Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire to glorify the previous ācāryas is being fulfilled. We are living in a goldmine of holy places! I was telling how Bengal was No. 1. But now it has fallen to No. 3! That is a good thing. This was with reference to No. 1 in nonveg eating. Now Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh or Telangana have moved up. But we would like all the Bengal-vāsīs to become kṛṣṇa-prasādatarians! We would like everyone here should be vaiṣṇava-prasādatarians! I don’t have the statistics but we are trying to preach, simple living and high thinking. Bangladesh there are 7 to 8% Hindus. How many of there are vegetarians among them? 0.5%! You see, Kṛṣṇa consciousness means chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, eating kṛṣṇa-prasāda. How many of you like kṛṣṇa-prasāda?

Like that, Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying that everyone who comes to our temple we can give them purī, sabjī! We want to change the people to become favorable to Kṛṣṇa! This revolution, Śrīla Prabhupāda started in the Western countries. You heard from His Grace Rāmeśvara Prabhu. Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, taking kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and in this way gradually start to change people. Śrīla Prabhupāda had this vision and by his mercy, it has spread all over the world. So, in our temple we are hearing, this is the “Śravaṇa Utsava” going on. After this “Śravaṇa Utsava” there will be a “Kīrtana Utsava”. Lord Caitanya said that by hearing the holy name we cleanse our hearts. Chanting, hearing, chanting! We hope that devotees will be enthusiastic and bless the people who are coming so that they can get more faith in Kṛṣṇa!

Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma,Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare!

Any questions?

Question: Please give me some personal instructions which I can follow my whole life?

Jayapatākā Swami: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and be happy! Chanting Kṛṣṇa’s name is not different from Kṛṣṇa’s person. If you continue chanting for your whole life then you will very easily go back home back to Godhead!

Question: We see that the conditioned souls even if there are little material difficulties, our bhakti goes down. But when we see great souls like you going through so many difficult situations, still you are going on and on and preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness and delivering so many souls. How can we inspired ourselves so that we can go on with our bhakti even in difficult situations and practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness?

Jayapatākā Swami: Śrīla Prabhupāda was saying, don’t think that this is an easy process! Normally it takes many births to achieve success. But in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you can achieve success even in one life! In Montreal, Canada, Śrīla Prabhupāda was giving class. If you are cent per cent Kṛṣṇa conscious, then you go back to Godhead he said. But devotees started to think, cent per cent, very hard! Śrīla Prabhupāda was on a raised āsana. He started turning to get down. He said, even 90%. Devotees were a little relieved! But they thought 90% is also tough! Then Śrīla Prabhupāda, he climbed down the stairs, and told the devotees, even 80%! Then he was walking away from the asana and he draped the caddar, threw it over his shoulder and said even 70%! We should try for 100! Even if we get to the pathway, there is still hope. This material world is full of suffering. Ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika, ādhibhautika kleśas. The way to solve this is to get out of this material world. Hare Kṛṣṇa!